Bohemian nominated for Peabody!

Wow! Your fall fashion issue (Oct. 4) was fabulous! That really was some wonderful investigative work. It must have taken a full 30 minutes at A'Roma Roasters. Thank you for your pithy journalism. I'll be sure to call the Peabody Association.

Christopher Bowers, Santa Rosa

world of pain, pt. II

What's with your fashion writer who bemoans the clothes available at big corporate stores (Express, Abercrombie, J. Crew) and then tells us we may be forced to shop at Macy's? ("Fabric of Lies," Oct. 4.) Sonoma County (and probably Marin and Napa counties, too, but I haven't shopped there) are blessed with many small clothing shops with clothing that doesn't (a) fall apart or (b) reveal your underwear. Some of them even advertise in the Bohemian.

Why confine your shopping conscience to avoiding Walmart when there are so many other places you could avoid too? How about doing a fashion column on local fashion finds?

Judy Helfand, Kenwood

We have done columns highlighting local fashion finds every other time we have been forced--while displaying grossly impolite ill-will--to produce fashion issues (two enormous times a year). And guess what? No letters. Nada. This one time, we tippy-toe out into the frigid waters of emboldened new discovery and--wham!--the letters, they snake in to slam us. Allow us to wipe away a small self-pitying tear. And, oh: sniff.

clear distortions?

When discussing the recent Santa Rosa library forum on immigration ("Mirror, Mirror," Oct. 4), Peter Byrne not only does not allow the lone dissenter to the politically correct liberal viewpoint any chance to present her views in her own words, he clearly distorts them. For example, Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America clearly targets both legal and illegal immigration, as anyone can learn while visiting their informative website.

Without providing any evidence, Byrne sums up Yeh Ling-Ling's presentation as a "rant" communicating ideas of "exclusion, deportation and selfishness." He also notes that she "rattled off a ream of questionable statistics," and, after not actually challenging a single one of her statistics or explaining why he thinks they are questionable, he dispenses with her viewpoint completely by noting that when challenged she "sputtered" and "lost the crowd." Conversely, the people he agrees with "point things out" and "correctly observe" and are all quoted at length. He then spends the entire second half of his article quoting a single secondary source, a business magazine, to counter his grossly distorted view of the DASA position. What a waste of ink and paper and your readers' time.

Susan Tremblay, Glen Ellen

Lambasting the latte liberal

Regarding "Living Wage Scam," Sept. 27: I'm from the Rust Belt. I grew up in a labor town, have paid dues to three unions and support organized labor. When S.F. hotel union workers struck two years ago, I refused to cross picket lines. It cost me my business. I also ran a non-profit agency in Spokane, Wash., for three and a half years. In partnership, I created, developed and implemented a range of social programs. Our client partners were poor folk--homeless families, singles and street kids as well as scads of physically and mentally disabled people, broken war vets and marginalized elderly living in run-down dwellings.

I've seen the pain, and I've felt my own. But it's one thing getting screwed by business-is-business Republicans. I expect that. Unfortunately, I've come also to expect well-intentioned Beemer & Brie latte liberals to do the very same.

And that drives me up a freakin' wall!

Paul Potocki, Rohnert Park

Dept. of aaarrrgggh!

In last week's double Stage review of Lobby Hero and I Am My Own Wife ("Secrets & Lies"), a stupid editing error made by a stupid editor--and there is only one--tangled up the caption. Lobby Hero is enjoying a hit run at the Sixth Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, not the Rep in Sebastopol (that's Wife).

Also, thanks to the icy-voiced gentleman who left a chillingly furious message informing us that each and every single bloody time we report on the talents of actor Steven Abbott-with-two-tees, we misspell his surname. Apologies are not even adequate, Steven. Come on down for a hug when you can.

The ed.
Lounging in the loge

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